Friday, July 4, 2025

A Room of My Own: July 4th Reflection Tanka

not down in the gutter
or high in the cirrus clouds ...
at thirty
holding a cubicle job
I stare at the fireworks-lit sky


FYI: I was reminded of the following remarks on the everyday man while writing this tanka

Every man dies. Not every man really lives. 

-- William Wallace

Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm. 

-- Abraham Lincoln 


Added:

this ever-growing
wall between who is and isn’t 
deemed worthy
of an American life ...
alone after July 4th fireworks


Added:

written for Jan. 21, 2029

caged in shadows
Trump and Trump-wannabes
wear jumpsuits
"Alligator Alcatraz: 
Make America Safe Again" [indeed!]

Thursday, July 3, 2025

Poetic Musings: Bloodied Man Haiku by Chen-ou Liu

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CL: "first casualty of war"

              the
           bloodied
             man
nailed to a wooden cross
               in
               a
             press
              vest


Chen-ou Liu

Commentary: 

Fist of all, the haiku's visual layout, the Cross, relates to its theme: the sacrifice (as implied from "bloodied" and "nailed" to a wooden cross) made by a wartime journalist, also known as a war correspondent (as indicated the bloodied "man in a press vest").  The words, typography, and arrangement of the haiku are integral to its meaning and impact. 


Secondly, the choice of action-packed verbs, "bloodied" and "nailed," shows that this is a target killing of a journalist for revenge, to warn other journalist (as implied from the act of being "nailed to a  wooden cross" for other journalists to see), or to conceal or suppress the truth ...  The intentional targeting of journalists is a WAR CRIME.  


Thirdly, sociopolitically speaking, the immediate consequence of this target killing of journalists is the DEATH of TRUTH.


The first casualty when war comes is truth.

-- Hiram Johnson, a reform governor of California (1911–17) and a U.S. senator for 28 years (1917–45)


As of June 16, 2025, CPJ’s preliminary investigations showed at least 185 journalists and media workers were among the more than tens of thousands killed in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel, and Lebanon since the war began, making it the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992.


And last but not least, it's my intention to use the socio-religious symbol of the cross to spark the reader's emotions and reflection on why Israel's GENOCIDAL WAR on GAZA is still raging.


Notes:

1 This haiku is a sequel to the following: 
written in response to Democracy Now, "DECEMBER. 20, 2023:" [NewYork-based, American NGO] Committee to Protect Journalists: Israel Is Killing Media Workers at Unprecedented Pace

smoky rubble
a bullet-riddled helmet
marked PRESS


2 Israel's oldest and most progressive daily founded in 1918, Haaretz, was sanctioned by the Israeli government on Nov. 24, 2024

3 RSF's World Press Freedom Index, 2024: [so-called "first and only democratic country in the Middle East"] Israel, 101/180; Score: 53.23
(FYI: Reporters sans frontières'/Reporters without Borders' World Press Freedom Index aims to compare the level of press freedom enjoyed by journalists and media in 180 countries and territories)

Haaretz, July 2, 2025: Israel's Government Wants to Repress the Press at Home and Bury It in Gaza

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

One Man's Maple Moon: Ring Marks Tanka by M. Kei

English Original

ring marks 
in the swollen knuckle ... 
a little more
middle age
this morning

Lyrical Passion Poetry E-Zine, 2012-13

M. Kei


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

腫脹手指關節
的戒指環狀痕跡 ...
今天早晨
看起來更像是
中年男人

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

肿胀手指关节
的戒指环状痕迹 ...
今天早晨
看起来更像是
中年男人


Bio Sketch

M. Kei is a tall ship sailor and award-winning poet who lives on Maryland’s Eastern shore. He is the editor of Atlas Poetica: A Journal of World Tanka. His most recent collection of poetry is January, A Tanka Diary. He is also the author of the award-winning gay Age of Sail adventure novels, Pirates of the Narrow Seas. He can be followed on Twitter @kujakupoet, or visit AtlasPoetica.org.

Tuesday, July 1, 2025

Butterfly Dream: Graveyard Watch Haiku by Srinivasa Rao Sambangi

English Original

graveyard watch
the rhythm of winter
in the old man's teeth

Presence, 67,  2020

Srinivasa Rao Sambangi


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

墓園視察
老人的牙齒隨著
冬天的韻律打顫

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

墓园视察
老人的牙齿随着
冬天的韵律打颤


Bio Sketch

Srinivasa Rao Sambangi, a Master Black Belt in Six Sigma, is currently working in a pharma company in Hyderabad, India. His haiku are regularly published in all the leading haiku journals

Monday, June 30, 2025

Butterfly Dream: Partial Eclipse Haiku by Giddy Nielsen-Sweep

English Original

partial eclipse 
a waning gibbous moon 
and the divorce 

Giddy Nielsen-Sweep


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

Translation result

偏食
一彎殘月
和離婚

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

偏食
一弯残月
和离婚

 
Bio Sketch

Giddy Nielsen-Sweep  was born in Brisbane, capital of Queensland, Australia, traveled and moved back there in 2010, learning to write Japanese genre poetry online. She writes about celestial subjects and the outdoors. After a forty-six year battle with M S, she founded Bombora, a Japanese genre poetry group to give her a place to practise its various forms. Now she teaches a group of friends.

Sunday, June 29, 2025

Hot News: New Milestone, 2.4 M Pageviews and Call for Submissions

My Dear Friends:

NeverEnding Story reached a new milestone late last night: 2.4 M pageveiws (FYI: It reached 2. 3 M pageviews on April 20, 2025)

I am grateful to everyone who has been a part of this poetry journey. And NeverEnding Story now seeks the haiku and tanka that can bite and bite hard. 

The accepted haiku and tanka will be translated into Chinese and posted on NeverEnding Story and X. And you are welcome to follow me on X at @ericcoliu (5 Following; 4,862 Followers).


Poetry is not only dream and vision; it is the skeleton architecture of our lives. It lays the foundations for a future of change, a bridge across our fears of what has never been before.

-- Audre Lorde


Defy the law! –
Write the heartbroken
poetry of the World!

(often attributed to) Jack Kerouac 


Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CXCVII: "loose skin over bone"

this dull-eyed baby 
with loose skin over bone ...
a Gazan boy
scrapes the bottom of a cracked pot 
for leftover grains


And

A poem after a poem after a poem is POWER!

-- paraphrasing Margaret Atwood


Chen-ou 


FYI: Defense for Children International - Palestine, June 24 2025“Starving a Generation” report indicts Israel for weaponizing starvation as a tool of genocide

Defense for Children International - Palestine, in collaboration with Doctors Against Genocide, published a report today asserting Israeli authorities have deliberately weaponized starvation as a method of genocide, resulting in the preventable deaths and suffering of Palestinian children in Gaza that will carry negative impacts for generations to come.

“Starving a Generation: Israel’s Famine Campaign Targeting Palestinian Children in Gaza” documents 33 cases of child starvation collected by DCIP’s field researchers in the Gaza Strip between October 7, 2023, and May 21, 2025. In nine of these cases, the child died. These children, all of whom died of malnutrition, ranged between the ages of one week and 10 years old. Of the other 24 cases, documenting children still suffering from the effects of starvation, 14 are under one year of age, five are toddlers, and five are school age. Five of the children are suffering from chronic diseases. These cases represent only a small fraction of the true toll, as Israel’s continued bombardment, siege, and obstruction of aid have made comprehensive documentation impossible.


Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CXCVIII: "this pain that words can't carry"

in a heat haze
murderaftermurder
of crows hovering
over bodies amid ruins ...
this pain that words can't carry


FYI: "Israel's oldest daily now sanctioned by the Israeli government, Haaretz," June 27: 'It's a Killing Field': IDF Soldiers Ordered to Shoot Deliberately at Unarmed Gazans Waiting for Humanitarian Aid

IDF officers and soldiers told Haaretz they were ordered to fire at unarmed crowds near food distribution sites in Gaza, even when no threat was present. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, prompting the military prosecution to call for a review into possible war crimes.

June 28: U.S.-backed  Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, GHF Urges Probe Into Israeli Army Fire on Gaza Aid-seekers Following Haaretz Expose


Editorial, June 29: Israel Turned Gaza's Aid Centers Into Death Traps. The Killing Has to Stop

June 30: Senior Israeli Army Officers Admit 'Uncalculated' Fire on Gaza Aid Seekers After Haaretz Expose

Saturday, June 28, 2025

A Room of My Own: Sultry Smell Tanka

the sultry smell
of grilled salmon and shrimp
our shoulders
close, closer to each other
and our wandering hearts, too


Added:

dappled trail 
a summer breeze humming
our sweet nothings 


Added:

after love
and her going back home
I take a shower
to wash away her trace
and another steamy night


Added:

pity? I murmur ...
these women in red
sail to my shore
even disembark, and yet
never reach my interior

Friday, June 27, 2025

Poetic Musings: Shift Change Haiku by Ignatius Fay

shift change
fried chicken and exhaust
on the warm breeze

DailyHaiga, 10 January 2017

Ignatius Fay

Commentary: This is a fine example of shasei (sketch from life) haiku, infused with multi-sensorily evocative imagery (smell of fried chicken mixed with musty and smoky exhaust on the warm breeze, Ls 2&3), about quick-pace drive-through window service (as implied from the juxtaposition of L1 and L2).

And this is also a good example of "less-means-more" haiku. What's left unsaid, such as negative impacts on worker health and well-being due to increased stress, physical strain, and potential for errors or injuries constantly occurring in a culture of speed,  at least as potent as what's stated/indicated in the haiku, such as "oily smell" of fried chicken mixed with "musty and smoky" exhaust. 

Thursday, June 26, 2025

One Man's Maple Moon: Rock Pool Tanka by Carole Harrison

English Original

within a rock pool
windblown clouds and me
clinging
to the shape
of ourselves                                                                           

Moonbathing, 15, 2016

Carole Harrison 


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

倒映在岩石水池中
風吹的雲彩和我
緊貼住
我們自己
的身形

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

倒映在岩石水池中
风吹的云彩和我
紧贴住
我们自己
的身形


Bio Sketch

Carole Harrison combines her love of art and nature with long distance walking and short form poetry. Her work has been published in Australian and International journals and anthologies. She lives on the South Coast of NSW, Australia, surrounded by remnant rainforest, cows and lots of colourful birdlife.

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Butterfly Dream: Fireflies Haiku by Lisbeth Ho

English Original

starless
and yet 
fireflies

Fireflies' Light, 24, September 2021

Lisbeth Ho 


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

Translation result

無星之夜
然而
螢火蟲的閃光

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

无星之夜
然而
萤火虫的闪光

 
Bio Sketch

Lisbeth Ho, whose complete name is Elisabeth Holidaya, is a housewife. She currently resides in Salatiga, Indonesia.  She loves reading and writing tanka, haiku, free verse poetry, and contemplative work. Her writings have appeared in various print and online journals and books. She also served as an editor of Antologi Tanka Indonesia 2019, the first tanka anthology in Indonesia.

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

One Man's Maple Moon: Motorcycle Riders Tanka by David McMurray

English Original

Locking the cottage
the motorcycle riders
kick-start a trip down south
po-potato-potato
po-potato-potato

David McMurray 


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

鎖上度假小屋
一群摩托車騎士們
開啟南下之旅
撲通撲通撲通的引擎聲
撲通撲通撲通的引擎聲

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

锁上度假小屋
一群摩托车骑士们
开启南下之旅
扑通扑通扑通的引擎声
扑通扑通扑通的引擎声


Bio Sketch

David McMurray edits the Asahi Haikuist Network. He lives in Japan, but travels 3 or 4 times a year to Taiwan to enjoying the food and festivals -- including the moon festival -- in Taipei and Kaoshiung.

Monday, June 23, 2025

Butterfly Dream: Slow Day Haiku by Laryalee Fraser

English Original

slow day ...
yet on this hillside
a rush of blossoms

Ambrosia, 4, Summer 2009

Laryalee Fraser 


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

時間緩慢的一天 ...
然而在這山坡上
花朵盛開

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

时间缓慢的一天 ...
然而在这山坡上
花朵盛开


Bio Sketch

A resident of British Columbia, Canada, Laryalee Fraser was actively engaged in online poetry forums from the mid-1990’s until her death in 2013. Her poetry has been widely published in haiku and tanka journals, and  in 2006, she compiled an online anthology of haiku, "a procession of ripples."

Sunday, June 22, 2025

A Room of My Own: BombafterBomb and MurderafterMurder Tanka

Trump Empire, Inc, XXXIX

bombafterbomb
silencing everything below ...
D.C.'s skies explode 
with murderaftermurder
of shape-shifting crows


FYI: The Guardian, June 22: No matter what Trump says, the US has gone to war

Trump has fallen slap bang into the trap laid for him by Netanyahu. His reckless gamble makes a nuclear weapon for Iran more, not less, likely

And Sky News, June 22: For Trump, the performative presidency just got real - in this war the 'in' may be easier than the 'out'


This tanka could be read as a prequel to mine bewlo:

the butcher
throwing more meat
into his grinder 
the wall-mounted TV blasts
war after war ...

Ribbons, 20:1, Winter 2024

In "contrast" with the following tanka:

There's no gap or break
In the rank of those marching
Under the hill:
An endless line of dying men,
Moving on and on and on ...

Buddhist monk-poet Saigyo (1118–1190 AD)


Added: Trump Empire, Inc, XL
written in response to The Onion's Editorial: Members of Congress—now, more than ever, our nation desperately needs your cowardice.

winding through
the hallways of the Capitol
the thunderous snoring 
resounds with chants of USA!
outside in the gathering dark


FYI: Rolling Stone, June 22: ‘The Onion’ Mocks Congress’ ‘Cowardice’ in ‘New York Times’ Full Page Editorial

We teeter on the brink of collapse into an authoritarian state. That is why, today, The Onion calls upon our lawmakers to sit back and do absolutely nothing.

Members of Congress—now, more than ever, our nation desperately needs your cowardice.

Now is not the time for bravery or valor! This is the time for protecting your own hide and lining your pocket. Now is not the time for listening to your idiotic constituents drone on about what’s happening to their precious democracy. This is the time for getting down on all fours and groveling.”


Added: Trump Empire, Inc, XLI

the Midnight Hammer strikes 
the core of the Shia Crescent ...
in this village  
every one carries around 
a heart that's been broken


FYI: Haaretz, June 23: Netanyahu's Bet on Drama-loving Trump Has Paid Off With Iran

Netanyahu's post-October 7 mood is one of having nothing to lose. He had displayed unusual determination in hoping that a successful attack on Iran would blur the failure of that day. He waved aside the customary reservations from the military, which did not want to launch the attack without the U.S. taking part in it.

Netanyahu gambled that drama-loving Trump would find it impossible to stay out of the center of attention, certainly if the Israeli attack were successful. He assumed that Trump would not heed his intelligence community, which had publicly estimated that there is no Iranian decision to push forward to a bomb.


Added: Trump Empire, Inc, XLII
written in response to NBC News, June 24: Trump Slams Israel and Iran For Violating Ceasefire

in scorching heart
the Convicted Felon shouts, 
they don't know 
what the fuck they're doing ...
one stray outbarks the rest


Added: Trump Empire, Inc, XLIII

bellowing 
Convicted Felon Trump 
as the flame 
of Lady Liberty in heat haze...
this land of white noise


FYI: L5 alludes to White Noise, a 1985 National Book Award-winning novel written by Don DeLillo. In his novel, the "symbol of 'white noise' represents the pervasive, often meaningless, and overwhelming background hum of modern life, particularly the barrage of information and consumerism that characterizes contemporary society. It embodies a sense of dread and anxiety stemming from the fear of death, the artificiality of modern existence, and the difficulty of discerning truth from simulation."

Saturday, June 21, 2025

To the Lighthouse: Jisei, Japanese Death Poems

Thematically and religiously speaking, the death poem (jisei in Japanese) is a genre of poetry that has historically developed in the literary traditions of East Asian cultures, most prominently in Zen Japan as well as Chan China. It tends to offer the writer's reflection on death that is coupled with an insightful observation on life. 

In the case of Japanese literature, the death poem's structure can be in one of many forms, including the two traditional forms: haiku and tanka. Yoel Hoffmann's 1986 groundbreaking book, Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death, offers "hundreds of Japanese death poems, many with a commentary describing the circumstances of the poet's death. He explores the attitudes and customs surrounding death in historical and present-day Japan and gives examples of how these have been reflected in the nation's literature in general."

Here are some of haiku and tanka selected from his book:

In life I never was
among the well-known flowers
and yet, 
in withering
I am most certainly   

Tomoda Kinpei


And had my days been longer
still the darkness
would not leave this world --
along death’s path, among the hills
I shall behold the moon.

Oroku


Barren branches:
the autumn left behind 
a cicada’s hollow cry.

Kagai


Empty cicada shell:
as we come
we go back naked.

Fukaku


Farewell --
I pass as all things do
dew on the grass.

Banzan 


To conclude today's To the Lighthouse post, I would like to share with you two of my death tanka: 

midnight hush ...
I, a worker in words
straddle the line
between the abstract, death
and the concrete, aging body


the brick shack
with boarded windows
facing a graveyard
in gathering dusk
a torn-up chapbook: I AM


FYI: You can get a free PDF copy of the book here  and here is the link to Janine Beichman's detailed review of the book, "Yoel Hoffmann as Japanologist: Japanese Death Poems."

Friday, June 20, 2025

One Man's Maple Moon: Summer Breeze Tanka by Joanne Morcom

English Original

hand in hand
we stroll by the river
a summer breeze
does the talking
for both of us

Gusts, 33, Spring/Summer 2021

Joanne Morcom


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

攜手
我們在河邊漫步
夏日微風
為我們倆
輕聲低語

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

携手
我们在河边漫步
夏日微风
为我们俩
轻声低语


Bio Sketch

Joanne Morcom is a poet, self-publisher, book reviewer, social worker, Certified Laughter Leader and Joyologist who lives in Calgary, Alberta.  Learn more at www.joannemorcom.ca